Ridgefield, CT -- Barbara Manners, Ridgefield Democratic Selectman, and noted Ridgefield and Danbury activist, was honored recently with the "Community Named Gift Award" by the Connecticut Division of the American Association of University Women. She received the award for outstanding community leadership and her exemplification of the standards and values of the AAUW. The award carries a donation in Ms. Manners' name to the AAUW Educational Foundation to support scholarship programs.
Ms. Manners accepted the award at a statewide dinner in Hartford. The dinner gathered AAUW women from Connecticut towns .
Ms. Manners is serving her first term as a Selectman in Ridgefield where she and her son David Manners-Weber and husband Morgan Weber reside. Formerly corporation counsel at a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company attorney , this award recognizes Barbara's community leadership in Ridgefield and Danbury.
Her achievements include serving on the Board of Directors of the Women's Center of Greater Danbury for 3 years where she negotiated the purchase of its home and the acquisition of a mortgage for the Center's new home. Her involvement with youth includes a four year position on the Board of Directors of A Better Chance of Ridgefield, the last two as Vice President. She and her family host ABC sophomore and high honors student, Giselle Regus.
Barbara is well-known as a supporter of the arts and is credited with establishing a home for the arts in Ridgefield. She is the founder of the Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts, due to open in 1999-2000. The Playhouse was a dream of Ms. Manners long before a town referendum designated the space for it in the "old" High School in Ridgefield. She was the driving force behind its conception and its preliminary funding . Today, she is actively raising private funds for operating costs. Also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, she has served its Board for four years.
A Democratic member of the Ridgefield Board of Selectmen, she is a graduate of NYU and Fordham Law School. The daughter of a single mother, who in her time was the second woman Vice President of Revlon and a role model for Ms Manners, she is a passionate advocate for women in politics. Prior to the local campaign of 1997, she attended the Yale Campaign School for Women. She is an active member of the League of Women Voters. Through her public service, she encourages women to become active in taking on the big issues effecting the commonweal.
She is dedicated to solving long range problems and never giving up, despite set backs. In her acceptance speech at the AAUW event she urged others to take up community activism by stating, " We need (in our communities) the involvement of people like you who can see the big picture and focus on the overall best interests of the community". " Our communities need you to do more than just support quietly what is right, we need you to get out there and be a voice. Even if you fail at first, the second or even the third time. Take a rest and get out there and come back to the front lines—you are needed there".
[-- Written by Susan Cocco]
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